Pride of America

Overall Rating

Martina Thomas

Age: 58

Occupation:RN

Number of Cruises: 9

Cruise Line: Norwegian

Ship: Pride of America

Sailing Date: 2007-09-17

Itinerary: Hawaii

Would never recommend the NCL Hawaiian cruise to anyone. First of all, my son and I did not get the 2 bedroom cabin I requested and paid for. Second, the shower was unusable for the first 3 days and needed repaired. Third, my son, who is 28 yrs. old had to share the same room with me on a pull out sofa bed that was full of bedbugs that bit him all over his torso. Fourth, we were served lobster bisque at one of the expensive restaurants (we paid $20 each) that turned out to be pumpkin soup with the waiter exclaiming, "tastes almost like lobster bisque, doesn't it?" Anybody with taste buds would know it was not and that is why I questioned it. Big sham cruise with poor selection of food and cabins that are not up to par plus not getting the cabin believed paid for. I spent every day at the desk only to be turned away with indifference. That was my last cruise. It is now 2012 and I will never set foot on a ship again. Big rip off. Ended up getting a nice vacation home on the islands each time now for less money and have more money on hand for more enjoyment of the islands without the annoying ship ripoffs.

When a ship serves pumpkin soup and calls it lobster bisque there is a definite problem. Also when people pay for a cruise they expect it to be all inclusive, including the restaurants. Instead, everyone had to pay a surcharge of $20 or more to eat there. The only place included in the cruise was the buffet which served exactly the same thing every day. We found the food at the buffet was exactly the same as the expensive surcharge restaurants...so we ended up eating buffet but mostly eating off the ship whenever possible. With everything that happened on this cruise it turned me off on cruises forever.

Considering I paid for a 2 bedroom and got a junior suite in which I ended up sharing with my adult son (I specifically stated when I booked the cruise I wanted 2 bedrooms because my son and I wanted our privacy) we were not happy from day 1! The people at the desk had no intention of putting me in the cabin I paid for. No one even cared! The shower was broken for the first 3 days of the cruise. That meant we had to bathe by sponge bath from the sink. Next, my son broke out in a bunch of ugly itchy red welts all over his torso. Upon further investigation of the sofa sleeper he slept on we found an infestation of bedbugs! Again my complaints at the desk fell on deaf ears. We swore we would NEVER stay on board another cruise EVER!

We went on every excursion possible to get off that bedbug ridden crappy food tub. The excursions were great and we found they were much cheaper in the future as we rented homes on the islands and paid less for the excursions than the cruises were charging.

Everything that had to do with the ship, their cabin, and their food was BAD. The excursions were great although we paid more booking through the cruise line than if we booked directly with the excursion places themselves.